how to say “to listen to someone” in Hebrew

ByAmi Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לשמוע-בקול-#.m4a” /]לִשְׁמוֹעַ בְּקוֹל

Here’s a Biblical-Hebrew expression that is just as useful today as it was thousands of years ago: לשמוע בקול[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לשמוע-בקול-#.m4a” /] – to listen to (someone) and obey, literally to listen to the voice of.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לשמוע-בקול-#.m4a” /]היא עברה את הגיל שילדים שומעים בקול ההורים שלהם.

She passed the age that kids listen to their parents.

Note that the expression is לשמוע בקול[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לשמוע-בקול-#.m4a” /], not לשמוע קול[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לשמוע-בקול-#.m4a” /]. The latter means simply to hear someone’s voice, as in the bittersweet poetic words of Rachel Bluwstein:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לשמוע-בקול-#.m4a” /]התשמע קולי, רחוקי שלי?

Do you hear my voice, my far-off one?

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